Thursday, April 10, 2014
A good story by Roddy Doyle in the New Yorker - but I propose a better title
Roddy Doyle may not be particularly well known in the U.S. but he probably ought to be and could be with more pieces like the one on the current New Yorker, a short story (yes, it appears to be a story and not an excerpt from a novel about to be published), Box Sets, written in stark, plain language, with simple and credible dialog, about a maybe 30ish man who's in a really bad time in his life - recently laid off from a decent job and very few prospects - and though his wife or possibly it's his long-term girlfriend tries to be thoughtful and consoling, it's obvious that everything she says to boost him up just makes him feel worse and more of a hopeless failure; he takes out his feelings, his rage, in variously destructive and pointless ways, yet has enough kindness and self-awareness to realize he's wrong and to apologize. Story begins with his complaining to his wife about her friends - he points out that they're hers and not his - after an evening engaged in discussion about which TV series is the greatest - a conversation so many of us have had, who hasn't?, but that just makes him feel more alienated - perhaps he's a bit older than her friends? In later discussion he hurls a coffee mug for no reason other than the urge to destroy - after wife has kindly poured him a cup. But then he apologizes, and later cleans. Heart of the story involves his walk with dog when he's hit by bicycle and seriously injured - though he grits it out, comes whom. wife nurses him a bit, but indicates she's leaving, she's had it. She's very well portrayed in just a few strokes and seems like a nice and kind person who does not need the mistreatment - but there's a little edge and ambiguity, too: perhaps she shouldn't leave him, at his weakest and most vulnerable. Perhaps she doesn't - ending not totally clear. I would have only one suggestion for Roddy if for some crazy reason he ever reads this: I think a much better title for the story, and on the same theme, would be "The Golden Age." Agreed?
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